The Dining Hall of White Tower had a high arched ceiling but without the intricacies Royals often demanded. There was an air of grandness sweeping all around the room stemming from the odd tapestry hanging behind the 200 person table. The fabric was a fine silk that depicted the whole of Hyrule bathed in the golden light of the Triforce embroidered by priests of the Temple of Time. A fire would normally roar in the large fireplace hanging in a large metal bowl above the table but it had been extinguished recently for the smell of wet ash, burning wood, and smoke lingered along with a degree of tension.

Henrick ignored the numbness starting to sliver through his limbs as he carried the youngest son of Raven through the large, heavy doors into the Hall. "Tonight, my boy, you may have to get another carrier."

Link laughed. "I'm sorry... you didn't have to carry me, you know."

"Evie would kill me and I would rather carry you than feel her wrath!" They both laughed at that and were beaming as they thanked the servants who shut the door behind them.

"Gods..." Rowan sat at the head of the table with a piece of some bird hanging partly out of his mouth with a very cross looking Jason next to him. "Come now, Brother. I have already gotten my plate an-"

"The head of the house sits at the head of the table." Jason's frown grew and seemed to encompass his whole face which his son, Darion, mimicked several chairs down.

Vicktor laughed and earned a glare from his older brother, Bryan, who he stuck his tongue out at. Freya giggled at the young men and tugged at her lover's arm. "Don't be so strict, Bryan. I think they are funny."

"They're childish!" He gapped at her which she also laughed at.

"You can be too, Sweetheart."

Jason tugged at the chair Rowan sat in and growled. "Get out of the chair." All eyes were cast to the brothers. "You do not have the authority to sit here, Rowan. Knight or no... now, stand."

"And if I don't, Brother?" Rowan growled. "Will it comes to blows because I dare sit in a chair?"

"The head of the house's chair!"

"A chair none the less."

Myra gave both an exhausted expression and pinched the bridge of her nose. "Must we really go through this every time you come to stay Rowan? The fighting really dims down the joy in seeing you."

"Shut your mouth, Myra." Rowan spat.

The eldest daughter stood so fast that her chair toppled back and her voice rose high with ferocity. "I will not have some pompous Knight of a Brother disrespect me like some street whore!" She lashed out with blinding speed and slapped the man across his mouth. "You do not tell me to shut my mouth, Rowan LeVant Hudson, or so help me Nayru I will take out your tongue with a bread knife."

Rowan grabbed both her wrists and shook her. "And I will not have you slap me like a child!"

"Let go of me!" She struggled, teeth clenched, and glared.

"Jason!" Janette tugged at her husband's arm and pleaded for him to help his sister.

Henrick dropped Link and the boy gave a cry of pain as he slammed the grey, stone floor. Myra's husband who had never been known for violence shoved Rowan so hard that the man toppled backwards on to the ground with force enough to shock him.

"Touch my wife like that ever again and I will kill you."

Rowan smirked, touching his lip with a finger to test for the blood he tasted. "Oh, will you?" The sarcasm dribbled in between the tones of anger.

Anju swooped down, gracefully, next to her brother and rested her calm, cold hands onto both sides of his face. "Brother, what madness has over taken you?" She sounded bewildered but calm in the face of the mounting violence. Her fingers wove themselves into his and pulled him to his feet, gently. "Come and lay your thoughts on my hands. Please, speak to me." The twins swept out of the room with all eyes upon their fleeting forms.

"He is under great pressure, children. Do not forsake him for this." The wise and familiar voice of Raven Hudson whispered through the silent room. "Rowan has been spending a great deal of this past year amoungst the rank of the Gerudo."

Myra untangled herself from her husband's arms for she hated to seem weak but careful eyes would notice how her knuckles were begining to color after clutching Henrick too hard. "He threatened and disrespected me then you ask me to take it lightly?" Her voice oozed with outright anger. "My patience with this violence has reached it's limit, Father, and I will not deal with it anymore." A beat in which she took a breath. "I am leaving. Now."

"But, Mother-" Vicktor stood but his mother disappeared in a flash of plum silk. The eighteen year old frowned and turned to his grandfather with eyes begging for an answer but, when the greying Lord held up his hands in exhaustion, the young man went in pursuit of his mother.

Henrick followed, shortly, after draining a goblet of wine but Byran stayed in his chair with a very Hudson-like frown on his face. Freya brushed her fingers through his hair and whispered words of comfort into his ear.

Darion had gathered his young uncle into his arms and sat the boy in a chair where he quickly had began checking for further injury. Jason and Janette had claimed seats next to Freya and Bryan though no words interchanged between the couples. Raven slid into the chair the fight had been over and placed his face in his hands.

"The Gerudo..." Jason murmured, drawing everyone's interest. "You said, he had been staying with them this past year, yes?"

Raven nodded but did not show his weary face even when his young wife joined the family in the Hall. Evangeline placed both her hands upon his shoulders as she stood behind him with a taut face on her normally joyous one.

"Why? The King would not be so foolish to forge a treaty with them now... the War is still fresh in many peoples' mind." Jason's brow furrowed and he scratched at his stubbly chin. "The country is only just recovering..."

"Edric has always been a peaceful man. He never liked games about wars and rarely endorsed violence even in his latter years." Evie frowned at the thought of her childhood playmate and once-upon-a-time suitor. "He is a trusting man but he is not too dim to see the dangers which is why he posted the Knights of the Realm in Gerudo Valley."

"A few loyal eyes wouldn't stop a rebellion."

Darion gasped and regarded his eight year old Uncle with shock at Link's understanding of what was being said while Bryan cut in with a few words of agreement. Raven lifted his head, finally, and turned his eyes from each of his sons. "This is why our beloved Rowan is so chaotic. He has been in enemy territory for so long that it will take him a while to adjust to being amoung family and allies."

"He seemed friendly earlier though." Janette frowned and plucked a piece of a cake off.

"But he has slept just as long as our Lincoln, my dear." Jason acknowledged and felt his body relax as tension and anger melted to understanding. "We shall all have to be patient for now."

"I shall go explain this to Mother... if Aunt Anju has not gotten to her first." Bryan departed with Freya at his heels.

Darion stood, stretched, and sat back down. "We all need to eat before the food gets cold... it will do us all some good especially due to the stress of the last few days and the lack of effcient meals."

"Don't let the cooks hear you say that." Raven chuckled beneath his breath and lifted the last traces of unease in the room.